Juwairiya: PKR Women to be inclusive, no one to be left behind

Newly elected PKR Women’s deputy chief Juwairiya Zulkifli has given her assurance that the new leadership of the women's wing will be inclusive and listen to women on the ground, leaving no one behind in this process.

Juwairiya (above), who is also the Bukit Melawati assemblyperson, told Malaysiakini that it is crucial for the women's empowerment agenda to be implemented and fulfilled in the Pakatan Harapan-governed states of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang.

In the recently concluded unofficial election, Batu Tiga assemblyperson Rodziah Ismail beat Senator Fadhlina Sidek in a narrow contest for the wing’s top post.

Rodziah won 21,962 votes against Fadhlina’s 21,502. Rodziah is allied to former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, who won the party’s deputy presidency yesterday.

Batu Tiga assemblyperson Rodziah Ismail

However, the Rafizi-aligned candidate Napsiah Khamis lost out to Juwairiya in a three-cornered fight for the women’s deputy post which also involved Faizah Ariffin.

Juwairiya succeeded in gaining 17,743 votes while Napsiah and Faizah garnered 14,282 and 11,071 votes respectively.

“I was nervous about the results as I was contesting as an independent candidate.”

“But I worked hard, campaigned and met women from all the states,” said Juwairiya, who serves as political secretary to Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari.

(From left) Women's vice-chiefs S Wasanthee, June Leow, and Sangetha Jayakumar.

Closing ranks

The three victorious women's vice-chief candidates were S Wasanthee, Hulu Selangor MP June Leow, and Sangetha Jayakumar.

The latter managed to secure enough votes despite her father Dr Xavier Jayakumar having defected from PKR to support the then-ruling administration under Muhyiddin Yasin last year.

Juwairiya’s call to close ranks is a necessary one given the fallout from the previous PKR election in 2018 which exacerbated fault lines within the party and laid the groundwork for the catastrophic Sheraton Move which brought down the elected Harapan government.

Napsiah, who contested as part of Rafizi’s team, was happy that Rafizi and Rodziah managed to win but said that her own loss was because it was hard to compete against the political secretary of the state government leader.

“I won in many states but due to Selangor being a big state (with many delegates), I ended up losing.

“I already expected Rafizi and Rodziah to win as the people wanted a change after the four times PKR lost in the state elections (in Sabah, Malacca, Sarawak and Johor).

“However, with this new leadership, we are confident that there will be a new wave of support in our fight for justice,” said Napsiah, who is optimistic that the party will be able to attract new voters. - Mkini